(Yes, I know, we have the Trinity in Christianity. Yes, it is three persons in one (which, is again, important but often practically meaningless language) and all three are equally God and individual, yeah, I'm not going into the discussion of Trinity, suffice it to say: useful but at time impractical because of the language used.)
But God, as unified whole, the most complete whole, is alone. God is the only one like, similar to, in any way comparable to, God. It seems God needed a mission - unless of course the idea that God has himself to entertain and find joy in is true then I am wrong - to provide himself something to do, to be less lonely. Maybe that's why humanity exists.
We exist to glorify God and our glorification of him lets him know he is wanted (because everyone wants to be wanted). God created us to teach himself he is wanted. Maybe the courage of Nietzsche is letting God know he is unwanted. Maybe the courage of Christians is recognizing in Jesus that God doesn't want himself but rather wants us.
I would have to say that God is not lonely within the Godhead. How can God offer us perfect fulfillment and perfect relationship if it does not already exist in and of Himself?
ReplyDeleteWithin the Godhead, the Trinity, God has relationships. You are correct. However, my argument isn't so much about fulfillment as it is that in the Incarnation/crucifixion we find God in Jesus declaring his want for us. I'm doing a couple things here, in my mind at least.
Delete1. I am conducting a rhetorical/theological though experiment. So, what I say here does fall outside, in some regards, what the biblical picture seems to indicate, at least initially.
2. I am trying to figure out how the death of God, living in a post-Nietzschean world where, as one author puts it, "God's decaying corpse smells," how that can be applied to the gospel. That was my main goal.
You are right however within the Godhead God has relationships and is not lonely. Again, though, Trinitarian language, while important, seems problematic to me in that it often times is too obscure and odd.
Thanks Payton!